'Joris, I Thought About Jumping Ship To Sony Today...'

[Panther_99FS]

Sony Roadshow in town....I have an opportunity to get the following:

SLT A55 = $699USD
SAL 75-300 = $199 USD
Additional $50 USD off...

And all this with no taxes because it's through Army Air Force Exchange.....
:bump:

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

So why didn't you? As we established in the other thread the future belongs to Sony and Panasonic! :bump:

That looks like a great price especially if the camera included the kit lens. Cheapest I've seen in Canada is $810 for the camera and kit lens - then you add taxes.

I'm certainly thinking I might buy an A55 as there is a decent selection of reasonable priced lenses available for it. The body size is fine but the ergonomics aren't quite as good as the Panasonic. The lenses would be bigger though sort of compromising the idea of going small. The GH2 is going to cost a pretty penny - camera and 14-140 lens same price as a D7000 kit or a 7D body only. That Panny lens is expensive as are most Panny lenses with virtually no alternatives as Panny uses in lens stabilization not in body. So buying Panny is basically a lock into a pretty expensive system with no other after market lens possibilities except one lens currently - the voigtlander 50mm (35 equivalent) F0.95 - crazy fast! Oly's are in body stabilized. I'm hoping some other lens companies pick up the ball and produce some lenses for Panasonic - Sigma/Tokina are you listening? - it won't be Tamron as Sony is a major (majority?) shareholder. Being this locked does give me reason to pause but the Panny's are such nice cameras to use and carry.

It'll come down to putting the two cameras side by side in a store and trying a couple lenses on them to see how they feel and to the extent I can how they perform. My bias is for Panasonic as I love using the G1 but it just doesn't have enough ISO performance and no video. Price and lens selection of the Sony may win out. Neither camera is available in a local store yet.

So why not buy in Panther?

-Ed-

[JorisVandenBerghe]

I'd just stay away from the 75-300 :). It's a rebadged (Konica-)Minolta one and isn't quite up to digital standards. It's called 'the big beercan'...related to the famous 70-210 f/4 (the original 'beercan', there's also a f/3.5-4.5 version IIRC). You might as well get the Sony 55-200 SAM...if you'd get the A-mount to E-mount adapter you could use it on your NEX with AF :). The 75-300 ain't a bad lens, but the 55-200 is just a much better lens...

I used to have the 55-200 (have sold it to a friend of mine recently - without SAM, but it's optically the same). Great little lens for the money, really. Feels weird, not having any sort of 'back-up' for the 70-400, actually.

The A55 is a great camera...the continuous AF is a huge advantage when shooting sports. It doesn't predict the subject's movements, but it actually tracks the subject as the AF can 'see' through the translucent mirror...

I just wished Sony had their A77 ready...because of the vertical grip, performance, better EVF, etc. I'd give a leg to know the specifications of the A700 successor...Ditto for the E-mount 'G' class standard zoom and the E-mount portrait lens. If I knew these at least I could already be getting a bag for them...

Grr...haven't bought anything serious photography related since like...summer 2009 ? Apart from a Sony 77mm polarizing filter with Carl Zeiss T* coating, which I haven't been able to use much so far, that is :frown:. Then again, I've been able to save quite a bit of money in the meantime :jump:.

[Panther_99FS]

Yeah Joris,
I didn't read anything positive about the 75-300 either.....But the price of the SLT A55 was quite nice :)

That being said....in all seriousness, my next body with the way things currently are would be a D300s for its superior auto-focus capabilities or the D7000 with it's improved sensor....

[Panther_99FS]

Hey All,

So why didn't you? As we established in the other thread the future belongs to Sony and Panasonic! :bump:

-Ed-

Who is "we"...?
Please check the responses in that other thread :)

[jmig]

Who is "we"...?
Please check the responses in that other thread :)

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-laughing007.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

Hey P, if I ever get delivery of my vaporware D7000, I will let you come over an look at it. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-fc/yes.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

[Panther_99FS]

LoL yep...D7000 is one tough cookie to get these days....
D5000 is rumoured to be discontinued....It will be interesting if Nikon replaces it with another articulating screen camera...

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Joris is the DT 16-80 a worthwhile lens? (on an A55)

-Ed-

[JorisVandenBerghe]

Oh, yes, it certainly is :jump:! While, like every other lens (be it either a prime or a zoom), it's by no means perfect, it's a great lens on what Panther would call 'DX' (i.e. on a crop sensor/APS-C sensor camera).

It has a very versatile range, it's also faster than Canon or Nikon equivalents: f/3.5-4.5. Too bad it's not f/2.8 (would make for a heavy lens though). Although it doesn't have the build quality of its bigger brothers, the 24-70 SSM CZ, 16-35 SSM CZ and the 85mm and 135mm primes (both CZ as well), it does have the special Carl Zeiss lens coatings etc. Optically a very nice lens.

On APS-C, you can't go wrong with it :). It's the cheapest Carl Zeiss lens for Sony by the way.

Haven't used it myself as I rarely work in the 'standard' focal length range, but I do know a couple of people who have it and love it.

I believe there are reviews on SLRgear.com, Photozone.de (in English),...

Only thing I want to add is that Sony said at this year's Photokina (in September) that there would be a 'Standard zoom lens suitable for advanced model' in the future. So while this one is in fact the flagship of the APS-C lenses so to speak, there is another one around the corner...(maybe a 17-55 f/2.8 like the other two have).

Then again, 'just around the corner' seems to have a different meaning at Sony sometimes...(A700 successor, anyone ?!) :mixedsmi:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10092114sonyatphotokina.asp

Sony's own kit lenses (the 55-200 and 18-55) are pretty good as well...they also have a very nice (cheap and light) 50mm f/1.8. There's also a 35mm f/1.8, but haven't seen any reviews of it yet.

[Panther_99FS]

Joris,
What's in the 300mm focal range besides the "beer can"...:bump:

[Panther_99FS]

Joris,
Re-thinking this, i sure wish that Sony and Nikon could pool their knowledge together and make a combined effort camera. Seems like Sony and Nikon have worked well together on the sensor front :ernae:

[JorisVandenBerghe]

Joris,
What's in the 300mm focal range besides the "beer can"...:bump:
There's the excellent Sony 70-300G SSM f/4.5-5.6. Great lens and far more portable than my 70-400G SSM. The 70-400G SSM costs twice as much (weighs twice as much as well!) but has more reach (obviously) and is sharper.

Joris,
Re-thinking this, i sure wish that Sony and Nikon could pool their knowledge together and make a combined effort camera. Seems like Sony and Nikon have worked well together on the sensor front :ernae:
Mmh, I wonder how that would work out. I can't comment much on Nikon's cameras user-friendliness (haven't used any apart from playing with a friend's D80 for a very short time), but I know that my Sony A350 is a lot easier to use than, say, a Canon Rebel XSi (450D). My dad has got one recently and I've used it for short amounts of time. A guy on a British aviation photography forum I'm on recently has recently jumped ship from Canon to Nikon. He said "Are Nikons really this complicated ?!". Well, I thought about the same thing after using my dad's Canon...:bump:

Sony really seems to have learned a lot from Konica-Minolta's designs and their way of thinking about UIs.

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

A55v $549.99 Broadway Photo latest issue of Outdoor Photographer - includes kit lens. If you want the same sensor as is in the Pentax K5 and Nikon D7000 for cheap - this is it.

Thinkin hard on this - cheaper than Panther's base deal.

-Ed-

[Panther_99FS]

Go for it!

[Panther_99FS]

Sony = Made in Thailand :wiggle:

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Just like a lot of Nikons! :bump:

-Ed-

[Panther_99FS]

Hey All,

Just like a lot of Nikons! :bump:

-Ed-

All my Nikon stuff is made in China....

[Chacha]

All my Nikon stuff is made in China....



:( Mine said made in Thailand \å/